SO15 Counter-Terrorism Command, New Scotland Yard, London, UK

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TERROR TIMES

Covering 11 June 2007 – 17 June 2007

Collated by Tim ANDERSON, Intelligence Researcher

SO15 Counter-Terrorism Command, New Scotland Yard, London, UK

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/ Not Protectively Marked (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY)
Suitable for Publication Scheme? Y/N / N
Title and version / The Terror Times
Purpose / Summary of significant open source articles concerning terrorism.
Relevant to /

M.P.S

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As Purpose

Author and warrant / pay number / Intelligence Development Officer Tim Anderson
Creating Branch, Code and OCU / Directorate / SO15 Counter-Terror Command Intelligence Unit
Date created / 18/06/2007
Review Date

The TERROR TIMES is intended as a global round-up of terrorism and bomb related news and an illustration of current methods and strategies being employed by terrorists, to help you prepare for current and emerging Terrorist threats.

The veracity of the below reports may vary.
Views expressed below are not necessarily those of the Metropolitan Police.
The below reports may have been précised. Further information and/or pictures may be contained on the Source Documents (accessible through the hyperlinks at the bottom of each report).
All articles are copyrighted by the listed media sources, which should be cited for attribution, rather than the TERROR TIMES.

The below information is NOT to be taken out of context.

GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL & INTERNET

FBI Plans Huge Anti-Terror Data-Mining

Tuesday, June 12, 2007 WASHINGTON: The FBI wants to compile a massive computer database and analyze it for clues to unmask terrorist sleeper cells. Two congressmen are worried about whether the bureau will protect the privacy of U.S. citizens. Reps. Brad Miller, D-N.C., and James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the chairman and ranking Republican on the House Science and Technology investigations subcommittee, asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the proposal. Miller and Sensenbrenner questioned both the FBI's ability to properly manage such a large trove of data and whether predictive data-mining even works or just falsely casts suspicion on innocent people. The FBI is seeking $12 million in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 for its Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force to set up a National Security Branch Analysis Center, with 59 employees, including 23 contractors and five FBI agents. Justice Department budget documents submitted to Congress predict the center will hold 6 billion records by 2012 and "the universe of subjects will expand exponentially." That would equal "20 separate 'records' for each man, woman and child in the United States," the congressmen wrote. The center "will leverage existing data-mining tools to help identify relationships between individuals, locations and events that may be indicators of terrorist or other activities of interest," the Justice documents said, and these efforts "will improve efforts to identify 'sleeper cells.'" Eleven workers in a Proactive Data Exploitation unit will be assigned to ferret out patterns of suspicious behaviour in the data, the congressmen wrote. They said the program resembles the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness anti-terror data-mining research program. Congress ended TIA in 2003 out of privacy concerns, but much of its research was transferred to secret accounts in other agencies. Miller and Sensenbrenner quoted Jeff Jonas, a data-mining expert and IBM Distinguished Engineer, as saying "data-mining for terrorism discovery ... would waste taxpayer dollars, needlessly infringe on privacy and civil liberties and misdirect the valuable time and energy of the men and women in the national security community." Jonas recently wrote that because there are so few known terrorist patterns of behaviour, this kind of search would "flood the national security system with false positives - suspects who are truly innocent." The congressmen asked the GAO to determine what records will be acquired, from which agencies or commercial entities, who will be granted access to them and under what restrictions. GAO also was asked to learn whether the center will contain records on U.S. citizens and what the bureau has done to guarantee those are accurate and protected from misuse and how they will be used.

Source:

U.S. Treasury names three Libyans for terror ties

WASHINGTON, June 15: The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed economic sanctions on three Libyan individuals for allegedly belonging to terror groups. The department accused the three of belonging to both al Qaeda and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, known as the LIFG, which wants to overthrow Moammar Gaddafi's government and is linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda. "These terrorists execute roles throughout al Qaeda and LIFG, from recruitment to military training to procurement of explosive components," the director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement. The department exercised an executive order, which freezes the individuals' assets within the United States and prohibits U.S. citizens from doing business with the three. The three are Nur Al-Din Al-Dibiski, Sa'id Yusif Ali Abu Azizah and Ali Sulayman Mas'ud Abd Al-Sayyid, the statement said. All three were born in Tripoli and hold Libyan passports, the department said.

Source:

UNITED KINGDOM

TERROR THREAT ENDS HARRY NIGHTCLUBBING

Sunday June 10,2007: The real reason Prince Harry has been told to stay away from nightclubs is because of fears he could be killed by Islamic terrorists. The third in line to the throne was reported to have been banned from clubbing last month after his deployment to Iraq was blocked by the head of the Army, amid fears his presence would put his colleagues in greater danger. At the time it was thought Harry had been asked to lie low so as not to be seen partying while his men served on the front line. But he has been avoiding nightclubs for his own safety. “Al Qaeda feels it has secured a victory in reversing the decision to send Harry to Iraq but now it’s a case of ‘If he won’t come to us, we’ll come to him’.” Although it is thought no specific threats to the 22-year-old Prince have been received, intelligence suggests he is a target of Al Qaeda’s growing network of Algerian terrorists. Fears escalated after three terror suspects under control orders absconded last month. Two of the suspects, Lamine Adam, 26, and Ibrahim Adam, 20, are the Algerian-born brothers of Anthony Garcia, 24, who was among five men jailed for life last month for a bomb plot. The year-long Old Bailey trial heard of plans to bomb a shopping centre and gas network, as well as the Ministry of Sound nightclub in south London. In April, royal protection officers told Harry and his brother William, 24, to rein in their drunken antics amid fears that nightclubs were under increasing threat.
Source:

Court hears of terrorist check-list

11/06/2007: Pubs and churches were described as among legitimate targets in a terrorist check-list, a court heard. According to a leading terrorist expert, the check-list was "derived from many years of experience of the Mujahideen, probably in Afghanistan," during the late seventies and eighties. But Professor Clarke of Kings College in London said the mention of "pubs" and "new churches" as targets and repeated references to banned UK based terrorist group Al Ghurabaa showed the document had been adapted. He said the Al Ghurabaa, one of two successor groups to Al Mujaharoon, had been banned in July 2006 after people were seen waving banners saying "behead" or "massacre" those who "insult Islam". The banners formed part of a demonstration after cartoon images of the prophet Mohammed were published in a Dutch newspaper. The check-list and other documents were found on computers found at addresses linked to thirty six-year-old Omar Altimimi, Manchester Crown Court was told. The dad of three from Lansdowne Road, Bolton is accused of a series of charges under the Terrorism Act including possession of instructions on how to make a detonator and explosive devices and instructions on the use of chemicals and bombing strategies. He is also charged with the acquisition of criminal property, namely £3,000. He denies the charges. Giving evidence Professor Clarke told the court the chart had similarities with the "encyclopaedia of Jihad and many of the other terrorist manuals and terrorist videos that circulate in Jihadi groups." He added: "It is more complete than many of them and covers all major aspects of guerrilla and terrorist structure and organisations." He said the check-list which described the organisational structure of terror, "does not tell cells how to go about terrorist operations but it does provide an extensive check-list of what is required to be a successful cell and encourages cells to be aware of the targets that are appropriate." Other targets included members of the establishment, politicians, embassy staff, the military and the media. Referring to the chart, he said: "All of the functions described here despite being generic and derived apparently from a rural guerrilla campaign are intrinsic to successful, prolonged terrorist campaign." Mr Clarke also gave biographical details of people whose writings were found on the two computers. They included Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri, widely thought to be second in command and physician to Osama bin Laden. Another author whose work was found on the computers was Nasser bin Hamad Al-Fahd who said it was legitimate to use weapons of mass destruction against those considered infidels and Sheikh Abu Mohammed Almaqdese whose books were found in Hamburg at the address of Mohammed Atta who was involved with the 9/11 suicide bombers. The jury has been told the computers also contained detailed instructions on the ingredients and methods used to create bombs, explosives and poisons from chemicals and household items. Video clips of soldiers being beheaded, shot and assassinated were also found. Altimimi was arrested by police who were initially called in to investigate a complaint from the Yemen Tourist Promotion Board that more than $50,000 had been transferred from their account to the account of another man at the Nationwide Bank in Bolton. Altimimi was arrested when he tried to withdraw £3,000 of the money which had been transferred from the other man's account into his. When he was searched at the police station the investigation was widened when bankcards and an immigration card in different names were found concealed under the insole of his shoe. Anti terror police then searched his home and addresses he was linked to, confiscating the two computers found to contain the terrorist material. Prosecuting Tim Barnes QC has told the jury the crown can prove Altimimi has connections with known and convicted terrorists in Europe and that to suggest he did not know the material was on the computers was "ludicrous". Source:

Libyan terror support cell jailed

Tue 12 Jun 2007: Three men who supported a Libyan terrorist group from their base in the UK were yesterday jailed for a total of more than seven years. Ismail Kamoka, 41, Abdul Bourouag, 44, and Khaled Abusalama, 36, pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court to providing funds and false passports to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an armed group plotting to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi. Kamoka, the court heard, was the most active member of the support group, while Bourouag co-ordinated the supply of money and documents and Abusalama was the forger. LIFG was not proscribed as a terrorist organisation until after the three were arrested in October 2005. The men claimed that, while they were interested in the wider jihad, they were not aware their documents and funds were being used to support extremists outside Libya. They said their primary aim was to provide humanitarian help to the families and dependants of LIFG members who were in jail, out of the country, or had been killed. But Mr Justice Mackay said before sentencing the three: "The prosecution are in a position to prove that some of those payments were sent to Islamic activists or their dependants whose interests were not Libyan, they were interested in the wider Islamic jihad." He sentenced Kamoka to three years and nine months, minus 546 days he had already spent on remand, and Bouraoug and Abusalama to three years and eight months, minus the 546 days they had spent on remand. Mr Justice Mackay also recommended the men should be deported after they completed their sentences.

Source:

21/7 suspect "going to go guilty"

Mon Jun 11, 2007 LONDON: One of six men accused of plotting a second string of bomb attacks in London in July 2005 wants to give evidence against his co-accused and is thinking of changing his plea to guilty, according to media reports. Hussein Osman also told prison officers that his co-defendant, Muktar Said Ibrahim, was the brains behind the plan to carry out suicide bombings on London's transport system two weeks after similar attacks had killed 52 commuters. The evidence emerged on Monday from two prison officers who told the jury at Woolwich Crown Court Osman had spoken to them in his cell at Belmarsh top security prison in the early hours of last Friday. Osman told one, Philip Bell, that he was "going to go guilty" and that he would sue his co-defendant, mouthing the name "Ibrahim". Later, he told another officer, Ben Murray, that Ibrahim was behind the plot "trying to destroy parts of London" on July 21 and had bullied him into taking part. Murray also said that Osman had asked to see someone about giving evidence against his co-accused and that he wanted to see someone from MI5. So far, Osman has not changed his "not guilty" plea.

Source:

Woman in July bomb claims

Tue 12 Jun 2007: The former wife of a British Islamic extremist claims she was told three weeks before the 7 July attacks that "something big" was going to happen. The woman, who has not been named for security reasons, also alleges that her husband suggested she carry out a suicide bombing in the UK. In an interview for BBC2's Newsnight programme, she said the man - who is apparently linked to extremists sympathetic to Osama bin Laden - had asked her to participate in "jihad". "He would tell me how to use a [bomb] belt around the waist," she said. "Whenever he would discuss these matters, I just would ignore him and go to the kitchen. "I told him I'm not interested at all. He was very clever. He told me how the girls tied the suicide belt around their waist and [wore] the hijab over the top." The South Asian woman said her husband had been discussing a forthcoming attack three weeks before the London Underground bombings in 2005. "He said that something would happen and he would flee, but I would be trapped. I told him I'm not going anywhere, I will stay," she said. "He said all his other colleagues are sending their wives away, so I should leave as well. "He doesn't care if British people die. He was so brainwashed by the radicals, he could do anything." Programme editors said they had handed the information from the woman to police because it might help to tackle terrorism. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said last night: "Any material provided to us will be considered and appropriate action will be taken."

Source:

Tooting terror suspect faces extradition

13/06/2007: Tooting terror suspect Babar Ahmad has kissed his family goodbye and declared he has been "sold out by his country", following the news his extradition may be just a day away. On Monday the House of Lords refused the 32-year-old computer expert permission to appeal and the European Court of Human Rights is expected to make a similar decision tomorrow. If that happens Mr Ahmad, a British citizen who stands accused of running websites which supported Chechen rebels and the Taliban, would have run out of options and will be sent to America immediately. A second Tooting terror suspect, 27-year-old Syed Talha Ahsan, is still fighting his battle against extradition to America. The former Franciscan Primary School pupil stands accused of being involved with Azzamm Publications, the organisation allegedly headed by Mr Ahmad. Source:

SO15 Counter-Terrorism Command, New Scotland Yard, London, UK

SO15 Counter-Terrorism Command, New Scotland Yard, London, UK

Protective Marking

M.P.S

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TOP STORIES THIS WEEK

GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL & INTERNET

FBI Plans Huge Anti-Terror Data-Mining

U.S. Treasury names three Libyans for terror ties

UNITED KINGDOM

Court hears of terrorist check-list

Libyan terror support cell jailed

Woman in July bomb claims

Tooting terror suspect faces extradition